Catching up with Alibaba.com CEO

Alibaba.com CEO David Wei was in the Bay Area over the weekend to meet — many for the first time — the company’s investors.

Last fall, Alibaba.com, part of the larger Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, China, went public to much fanfare on the Hong Kong stock market. Since then, its stock has seen some dramatic ups and downs, something that Wei said stems from the stock being new to the market and the lack of comparable companies to use as benchmarks.

Yahoo owns a 40 percent stake in Alibaba Group and also invested an additional $100 million in Alibaba.com last year. Wei was pretty mum on how the company feels about Microsoft’s takeover bid for Yahoo, but said he doesn’t believe it will harm Alibaba.com if the acquisition goes through.

The Alibaba Group, founded by Jack Ma, includes a series of Web sites and services for China’s small and medium-sized businesses and consumers, including an eBay-like online auction and store site.

Alibaba.com, the unit that went public, helps businesses around the world connect with suppliers, mainly manufacturing companies in China. Eve Alexander, for instance, a U.S. maternity lingerie line, uses Alibaba.com to find suppliers in China to produce its bras.

But Wei said the Alibaba.com is trying to extend beyond its China roots. It has expanded to Japan and India in two joint ventures. This fall, it also plans to introduce a service for U.S. businesses to sell their products to its Chinese customers. The site will let small and mid-sized U.S. businesses deal directly with their counterparts in China, such as allowing a Napa winery to connect to restaurants in China looking to offer California wines.

Separately, Wei said that Alibaba.com is reeling from last week’s earthquake in central China. It was able to reach all 150 employees from its offices Chengdu and Chongqing, two nearby cities, though it took three days. But it hasn’t been able to contact its 33 customers in Wenchuan, the epicenter. That region is known for small companies that make and sell bamboo and art products.